Your possible next VP sure loves vetoing things

Tim Pawlenty

With Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal officially pulling his name from consideration to be John McCain's running mate, everyone's favorite amateur hockey player from Eagan has become the hot new favorite to win the McCain Veepstakes. McCain may have confirmed it during what he thought was a closed door meeting in New Hampshire, telling supporters they would "really like Pawlenty."

Adding fuel to the fire, Pawlenty has stopped taking questions from reporters on the possibility of him joining the McCain ticket, something neither he nor any of McCain's other potential running mates had done until now.

Non-Minnesotans may be wondering what the deal is with this guy. What is he like? How does he govern? Does he have a Fargo accent? In short, a sycophant, he tries not to and kind of. He set a new record for most vetoes in a single legislative session without ever testing positive for steroids. Before him, no governor in Minnesota history had ever vetoed a non-binding resolution; Pawlenty vetoed two in one year. It has earned him the nickname "Veto Corleone" (not really, I just made that up. Just now. Wouldn't it be corny if people really called him that, though?)

City Pages has a very fine piece that you can read here detailing all of T Paw's 34 vetoes from the last legislative session. Some highlights include vetoing a non-binding resolution that stated Minnesota's support for ending the Cuba trade embargo (a position he supported while running for re-election in 2006,) a bill that would allow state employees to take sick leave to care for spouses or parents who were ill, a bill that would have provided health insurance statewide to all K-12 public school teachers (currently, some rural districts can't give their teachers health benefits,) and a bill allowing cities and counties to make charitable grants.

While some of the vetoes mentioned were things you might expect a Republican governor to veto in a state with a Democrat-controlled legislature, a lot of these were bills that zipped through the House and Senate with strong bipartisan support.

For all the posturing he's done to get on McCain's good side, T Paw better be his choice for running mate.